Washington, D.C. — Today, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a final rule to reinforce protections for America’s federal civil service workers. This new rule provides needed clarity to safeguard the merit system principles for career civil servants and preserves integrity, continuity, and expertise in government. In response, Cissy Jackson, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, issued the following statement:
This rule is a major step against efforts to turn our merit-based civil service into a patronage system that rewards loyalty over expertise. It balances the need for a professional civil service with a president’s need for confidential advisers and political appointees who will carry out the administration’s policy objectives. These protections will help build confidence in our federal workforce and are critical for federal employees who work in national security-related positions. By bolstering transparency and oversight of personnel management, the new rule should also help improve relations between the military and civilian sectors of government, which have suffered from increasing polarization in recent years.
For more information or to reach an expert, please contact Sam Hananel at [email protected].